Nail cutting test

L

lonestar1979

Joined
Mar 2, 2014
Messages
2,585
Is this test valid.I cut a nail with my d2 folder(knife had a flaw straight from factory with linerlock but blade is very good),havent tried it with other knives.Im wondering is this test possible with other major quality knives from Spyderco,Benchmade,Kershaw etc.
 
Buck's trademark at one time showed a knife being pounded through a nail on an anvil. Not sure when that went away but the current mark is just the anvil.

What exactly are you "testing" for or attempting to prove with this? Your knives, test them however you like but I consider it abuse. If you want to cut nails, buy a bolt cutter.
 
Are we talking about the finger nail test?

Or hardware nail?

"4. Finger Nail Trick- Stick out your index finger and (Seriously, be carefully) gently lay the edge of your knife on your fingernail so the knife is perpendicular to your finger. If your knife bits into your fingernail with ABSOLUTELY NO PRESSURE, and doesn’t slide around, then your knife is reasonably sharp.

http://lansky.com/index.php/blog/5-ways-test-how-sharp-your-knife/
Click to expand...
 
I've never needed to cut through a nail with a knife blade, but have both brass and steel #10,8,6 machine screws to shorten them.
There was never any damage to the blade edge, but it was M2...
 
The fingernail test is a nice way to look for spots on your blade you have missed during sharpening. Draw it lightly over your thumbnail...it will skip/slide at "flat" spots.

The "hammer" nail test proves little. Unless you need to cut nails with your knife. Then its great.
 
Not even when I was into overbuilt folders did I ever even think to cut through a nail.

Just don't see any reason to?????
 
I was bored , and knife had a fault with the lock(couldn't return it because I stripped the screws)....what the hell lol...been using knives for 20+ years, so I know what a knife is used for!Just wanted to see how d2 held up.
 
One of the greatest knifemakers and huckster, Richtig routinely cut nails as a demostration of his strong edge. For those old enough, or nerdie enough, to read newspapers and magazines, Richtig was featured in Ripley's Believe it or Not mini articles.
 
lonestar1979 said:
I was bored , and knife had a fault with the lock(couldn't return it because I stripped the screws)....what the hell lol...been using knives for 20+ years, so I know what a knife is used for!Just wanted to see how d2 held up.
Click to expand...

Screws can be replaced, there is only a couple of companies that will charge you almost what the knife itself is worth if you wreck the screws. Hell, they even sell them tiny ones at some stores.
 
I thought I remembered old photos, maybe advertisements, of blades cutting nails. At the time I thought it was pretty crazy.

But on the other hand now I realize that a good knife blade is much harder than a common nail. Since D2 and many other steels used in blades are tool steels used to form metal, a blade in tool steel should be able to cut a nail. There are nails available that are hardened and those probably can't be cut by a D2 blade. I know that there are hardened nails available for use in concrete and powder-actuated systems for use in steel, and I've actually bought hardened trim nails.
 
About the same as cutting paper. Any decent knife will do it with proper technique. I've busted as many blades cutting nails as I did cutting wood. A bad blade is a bad blade. Inclusions, quench fractures, delaminations, etc are going to fail at some point no matter what you are cutting as long as you apply enough force.
 
Was working on building display cases one night and had to get a board off. I had glued it and brad nails were all in it. I ended up using my ZT 0300 because I had nothing better that would work, it was late and I did not want to drive home to get another tool. I figured after batoning through 50 plus brad nails my knife would need a ton of touch up. Was shocked to see it held up great.
 
The nail test shows the blade is sharp and the Edge is smooth. Growing up we were taught that test and the shave your forearm hair test.


Back in the 1970s Me and Dad watched the Buck salesman do their classic shave the threads off a bolt then slice up a tomato into nice thin 3/8's thick slices. He got the bolt from the bin in my Cousins Lumber Shed.
 
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